Timely software support from Android OEMs has long been a heated topic for Android enthusiasts. While Google has made some efforts in the last few years to coax manufacturers to provide better software support, it can't completely fix the issue without directly impacting the openness of Android as an ecosystem. However, when it comes to Android phones for businesses, the company takes strict measures to ensure businesses get reliable software support from OEMs through its Android Enterprise Recommended (AER) program.

While some of you may have heard of Android Enterprise Recommended devices, most aren't aware of the rigorous processes set in place for devices to receive the AER badge. In this post, we'll take an in-depth look at the program, the requirements OEMs have to meet to get their devices certified, and whether AER devices are relevant to you.

What is the Android Enterprise Recommended Program?

Google launched the Android Enterprise Recommended program with Android 5.0 Lollipop back in 2014. Since its release, the company has provided APIs and other tools as part of the program to help developers add Android support to their enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions. With the launch of Android 6.0 Marshmallow in 2015, Google mandated support for these Android Enterprise APIs to get GMS certification for devices, greatly boosting adoption.

The company also certified Android devices as part of the program to ensure reliability and timely software support for businesses, especially for critical vulnerabilities. Android Enterprise Recommended devices are essentially among the best Android smartphones when it comes to reliability and security. The devices also offer unique features for businesses, allowing them to deploy the devices in bulk, keep work and personal data separate, and provide additional security measures to prevent data loss.

Since Android Enterprise Recommended devices are aimed at businesses and organizations, should you even care about them?

Should you care about Android Enterprise Recommended phones?

Even if you’re not getting an AER device for your business, you could purchase them over a regular phone for a couple of reasons. Android Enterprise Recommended phones are eligible for semi-regular updates, and OEMs must roll out prompt security fixes whenever critical issues arise. Smartphones in the program are also expected to provide, at the very least, one major Android update.

Transparency is also needed when it comes to security updates. As such, OEMs must publish a security bulletin disclosing all CVE vulnerabilities they fixed on their phones. You might think most OEMs don't often do this, but as a part of this program, many do, including Samsung, Motorola, and OPPO. Any update rolling out to these phones must also comply with the program’s requirements and will need to get revalidated.

For a phone to get an Android Enterprise Recommended badge, it also needs to meet a series of minimum system requirements to ensure a smooth experience in the workplace. Devices in the "Knowledge Worker" category must meet internal specifications, including 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage, a CPU with a clock speed of 1.4GHz, Android 12, and 64-bit architecture. Rugged devices can sit a tad lower in specs with requirements of at least 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, and a CPU with a clock speed of 1.1GHz. They’re allowed to be 32-bit based, but they’re required to feature a MIL-STD-810G or an IEC 62-2-32 certification at the very least. You can view the complete list of requirements from Google here.

Zero-touch Enrollment

Zero-touch Enrollment is one of the best aspects of the Android Enterprise Recommended program. It does exactly what it says — enroll devices into the program without a single touch of the user or your IT team. It reduces the time required to deploy devices to users in an organization and removes the need for the manual setup of each device. If you have hundreds or thousands of employees, zero-touch enrollment is an efficient way to distribute Android Enterprise-recommended smartphones.

Using zero-touch enrollment, organizations can directly order large quantities of eligible devices from zero-touch carriers or resellers and then use an online portal to assign each device to a user. All this is done without opening the box of the phones or manually setting them up. Once the devices are assigned, you can configure the Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solution as per your needs, and all devices will automatically enroll with the policies set by your EMM. Now, all you have to do is ship the device to the user, and when they power it on for the first time, a setup process with all the regulations and policies will already be in place.

Zero-touch enrollment eliminates the need for any instructions or training to be given to the IT department of a corporation since they don't have to enroll every device manually. The entire process is done while the phones still sit inside the box. This saves a ton of time and effort while not compromising on security. Devices enrolled via this method will still retain the required policies established by the organization, even if they are reset. End-users also do not require any sort of training since all they have to do is sign in with their respective accounts.

If a phone runs on Android 9.0+ and is GMS certified, it's automatically eligible for zero-touch enrollment. However, remember that purchases must be made through zero-touch carriers and resellers.

Which phones are part of the Android Enterprise Recommended program?

The Android Enterprise Recommended program features 567 smartphones as of the time of writing, with 400 in the "Knowledge Worker" category and 167 in the "Rugged" category. The list includes several devices from different manufacturers, including quite a few from relatively obscure OEMs. We've compiled a list of smartphones from some of the most notable manufacturers in the list:

You can check out the full list here.

Should you get an Android Enterprise Recommended smartphone?

This program isn't really the be-all and end-all when choosing a smartphone with stellar software support — which is what it's meant to deliver, or at least was at first. Companies like Motorola, which are pretty infamous when it comes to software support, especially in the long term, have phones with this certification. And Google doesn't enforce this policy that well. Instead, the program mostly ensures stability, reliability, and transparency for updates and support while at the same time laying down the terms for both. In this respect, it does deliver well.

So if the question is whether you should choose a smartphone for your personal use based solely on this list, the answer is probably no. While the stringent requirements of this program do ultimately deliver some value to users who care about having a secure, reliable smartphone, they don't provide enough value to be the sole, decisive factor to the average consumer. There are many other factors that are considerably more important at the time of choosing a smartphone that an average consumer would use as their personal device.

There's also the fact that most flagship smartphones from major device manufacturers often already have this certification anyway, and even some mid-range and low-end ones as well. Phones like the Galaxy S22 lineup or the Google Pixel 7 Pro are already certified. Your phone might already be certified without you knowing it. So looking up the full list might result in you choosing the same smartphone you would choose anyway.

If you're a business and you're looking for Android smartphones to connect to your network and give to employees solely for work usage, then yes, Google's device directory could be a pretty good starting point since you want what the program is delivering in a phone you will deploy on your network.

Android Enterprise Recommended program isn't perfect

While Google could do a way better job in enforcing its program's policies on some of its partners, particularly on the update side, the program does end up delivering pretty good value to businesses in particular, as well as to people who are interested in transparency and promises of continued and consistent software support. It's not a perfect solution, but it's as good as it gets in the existing framework.

It also does make us wonder whether more strict guidelines that matter to consumers could be rolled out by Google for Android partners. While several OEMs have started to take Android updates more seriously, there's still a long way to go until we get timely updates on most Android devices. Even then, Apple still one-ups Android by offering several years of iOS and security updates for its entire lineup of devices.

While the Android Enterprise Recommended program might fall short when it comes to actually delivering timely security updates, it still makes OEMs more transparent when it comes to software support, including timelines and the update changelog. We would also love to see Google develop a similar program to ensure Android OEMs update their phones for longer — but that appears to be a far-fetched dream.